The Frugal Gardener’s Must Haves

Welcome to AProverbsWife.com. Take a moment to subscribe to my FREE newsletter. I love connecting with you guys by sending personal messages, testimonies, prayers and words of encouragement. You also get exclusive content when you join the"Weekly Exclusive" list.

Perennials: These plants will grow and often multiply year after year. You’ll invest once for a plant that will bring you years of returns.A Large Shovel can handle just about any heavy duty job in your garden. You can dig a new bed or turn soil and it is great for digging up and transplanting mature plants and bushes.A Rake can be used to gather dead leaves and mulch in the Spring. It’s also great for smoothing out a newly dug garden beds.The Hand held shovel or trowel is a must when working in a mature garden bed. It is much more precise than the large shovel, allowing you to dig around in the bed minimizing damage to surrounding plants.A Hose Sprayer with multiple spray adjustments. I cannot live without my sprayer’s shower and mist settings. I use the shower setting for mature plants that are able to stand up to a rain like watering and the mist setting is reserved for seedlings.A Watering Can is also a great tool to have when watering plants that are not in close proximity to the water spigot. A frugal replacement for a watering can would be an old milk jug.A bag of soil. Miracle Grow is by far my favorite brand. I have found that it is very hard for seeds to grow in clay soil. What I do is start my seeds in a mixture of the clay soil indigenous to my area but mix it with a little bit of Miracle Grow.Seed Packets are always good to have around. When I am bored or stressed I grab some seeds, some soil and a pot. Working on my garden always seems to allow me the time that I need for quiet reflection while still doing something productive. Also I tend to do less fussing at the children when I am outdoors. Being outside sort of holds me accountable by causing me to choose to speak in a tone that will not bring shame to my family. (Cause I can yell when I am frustrated) In place of store bought seeds I often plant kidney beans, seeds saved from tomatoes or cucumbers or any seed bearing fruit or vegetable. It’s fun to see what will germinate. You can usually find seeds a Walmart for 10 cents a pack. They are often reduced in July to 2 cents a pack.A Growing Environment such as clay pots, egg cartons or plastic container from items such as yogurt. I often use recycled materials to start off seedlings. It is by far the cheapest route aside from growing seeds directly in the soil.

All these things you've mentioned are musts in my own garden, too. Some other things I like to have are: a stirrup hoe (sometimes called an action or "Hula" hoe) for my vegetable garden; a bucket of some kind, to put weeds in as I walk around the yard; a good pair of gardening gloves. I remember thinking that gloves were only for wimps….then I hurt my hands doing some rougher work, & that impeded my work elsewhere around the house for a few days. Easier to just have a good pair of gloves (and if you're pulling thistles out in the field, make sure they're leather ones!)